Employee recognition supports remote worker well-being

Nationally based team builds community within the new recognition platform

healthcare employees reviewing patient chart

Stability Healthcare’s recruiters connect clinicians to short-term and staff roles in hospitals around the country. Yet, the fully remote workforce was disconnected. Leadership knew that investing in their employee experience would fight the healthcare industry’s high employee burnout and turnover rates. Centralizing employee engagement tools like points-based recognition and an online award storefront aligned their people, values and work. 

Letting employee feedback guide engagement strategies

After undergoing a company restructuring, leadership wanted employees’ perspective on the company culture. Engagement, culture and communication advancements hinged on employee feedback—including the collaborative build of the new engagement platform.

Reward for survey participation

The first step to encouraging employees to take the survey was simplifying it to a 5-question eNPS. The reward for engaging? Points to spend in an all-new award storefront.

The strategy worked and survey results were clear: Employees wanted more internal updates. Leadership saw organization-wide communications as a potential game changer for Stability Healthcare’s culture.

“I didn’t want to overcommit and underdeliver. So with the help of the ITA Group team, we decided to take a simpler approach [to our surveying process]. We asked about our core values. We asked if we were in alignment. And what we identified as our biggest area of opportunity is communication.”  

—Samantha Wisniewski, People Operations Manager, Stability Healthcare

Centralizing engagement (regardless of worker location)

Cooleaf, ITA Group’s employee engagement platform, fulfills the need for communications updates and community building. Employees view company news and announcements all in one spot, on the web or mobile app. They even earn points for being active on the platform. 

These updates complement the implementation of monthly all-employee meetings and encourage one-on-one manager meetings.

Relevant, employee-centric capabilities 

The platform provides opportunities for employees to connect regardless of level or role. All while organization-wide communications and individualized celebrations make them feel up-to-date and recognized. 

Service and milestone awards, including birthdays

Core values-based recognition

Peer and manager recognition to highlight achievements and foster connection

Virtual challenges and events focused on well-being, team building and professional development

Quarterly eNPS surveys to track employee satisfaction

Awards catalog with gift cards, merchandise and team swag

example of healthcare employee recognition

Celebrating “wins” through recognition 

The new platform publicizes team shout-outs in a live newsfeed and tags managers on their direct reports’ recognitions, giving everyone insight into everyday wins.

Peer-to-peer recognition and awards store

Points-based recognition awards reinforce core values while giving employees freedom of choice to redeem points for items like gift cards, high-end merchandise and team swag. Tying positive behaviors to tangible awards makes the recognition more meaningful. 

Plus, having one central platform for both recognition and the awards store enables employees to quickly navigate between the two. 

Manager-to-peer recognition and admin dashboard

While managers also send employee recognition within the shared platform, their experience centers on creating
long-term engagement through habit formation. In short: managers build a culture of appreciation within their teams by tying recognitions back to Stability Healthcare’s core values. 

Beyond recognition issuance and the live newsfeed, managers use the platform to review employee performance through awards and recognition their team members receive. The comprehensive dashboard makes it easier come annual performance evaluation time. Insights from peer feedback give visibility to individuals’ hard work throughout the year.

Maintaining motivation with activity-based incentives 

The platform rollout was backed by regular, hosted virtual challenges, including new hire onboarding activities and wellness initiatives like step challenges and individual health resolutions. This kept well-being top of mind and helped distributed teams come together.

Team-wide activities and contests even impacted KPIs. Stability Healthcare incentivized recruiters with online activities and contests, creating friendly competition while driving engagement.

Latest platform addition: Recruiter awards for hard-to-fill jobs. This incentivizes recruiters to fill key placements in certain states or for certain specialties. 

A special platform benefit? Celebrating industry holidays together despite not gathering in person. For National Nurses Week, leaders sent gift cards to employees for going above and beyond—making good on their promise to build community. 

Transforming company culture from the inside 

Today, Stability Healthcare’s remote team is more united and engaged than ever. By investing in employee engagement, they’ve strengthened their biggest asset—their people. As another proof of success, Stability Healthcare was named a Great Place to Work®, earned through a third-party employee survey. 

97%

of employees agreed they have the resources and equipment to do their job

97%

of employees said their facilities conribute to a good working environment

94%

of employees felt they could be themselves at work

Prior to ITA Group’s Cooleaf technology, everything was very siloed. Shout-outs for great work were limited to department head meetings in a setting with few individuals.

Samantha Wisniewski

ITA Group’s recognition platform allowed us to share our wins with the entire company. It’s now the central spot for our team to stay informed and celebrate together, whether they’re on a different team or on
the other side of the country.

Samantha Wisniewski